UPDATE: SUPREME COURT DENIES THE CUBAN FIVE CERT

The Supreme Court denied cert to the Cuban Five who were convicted on charges related to espionage. They were accused of being Cuban agents. The five men: Ruben Campa, Rene Gonzalez. Antonio Guerrero, Geraldo Hernandez, and Luis Medina were tried in an extremely tense environment in Miami. The trial occurred simultaneously with the demonstrations over the return of Elian Gonzalez to his father’s custody in Cuba after his mother died while attempting to enter the United States. One of the issues on appeal was the refusal of the District Court to remove the trial from Miami to a place where the men could have gotten a fair trial. Another issue involved the prosecution’s use of nine of its eleven peremptory challenges to exclude African Americans from the jury. Three African Americans did serve on the jury. Finally Geraldo Hernandez was convicted of conspiring with the Cuban government to shoot down anti-Cuba fliers flying over Cuban territory despite the fact that the Cuban government had a legal right to shoot down planes invading its territory.